My girlfriend and I headed to Fort Collins this weekend to watch the Oscar nominated animated shorts at the Lyric Cafe. The cost wound up being $12 for both of us, tickets only, but I thought that was a low price to pay to look down at everyone at our bosses' party who hadn't seen them.
Just kidding. I don't talk to people less pretentious than I pretend to be.
The Lyric recently got new seats and a digital projector which is important to note because the seats and projector sucked previously. Like, worse than an art house should. The staff was, as always very friendly and I was surprised to see the place pretty full at 2 p.m. on a weekend, all be a three day one.
Going in, I had only seen "Paperman" which was in front of "Wreck It Ralph." That one is still the odds on favorite for me because it is well executed and had a fantastic story, but two others caught my eye.
"Fresh Guacamole"
Just over a minute in length, I was blown away by how smooth the animation for this film was. Doubly so because the transitions and transformations were not of ordinary actions, but household objects repurposed to make guacamole. To that end, I was very impressed with the imagination of the piece and the clear joy of it all. Diced tomatoes actually became red dice and dipping chips were represented by poker chips. You have to smile at things like that. There was no pretension to it. It was as if a highly skilled and uninhibited child was explaining his ideas of where guacamole came from with no context needed.
The downside of this one was that it is very short, which is something I can see voters holding against it. Especially when fully thought out and rendered stories are in the race as well. Checkout other works by PES here including some commercial work you may recognize.
"Head Over Heels"
Of all the shorts, I think this one could actually beat "Paperman." It deffinily has the heart and soul of a great story along with some very impressive technical aspects voters in these categories love.
The story looks at an aging couple who have a very unique living arrangement. He lives on the floor and she lives on the ceiling as their house twists and turns through the sky. There is no reason given for this, but one could read a lot into how their perspectives and views of life have grown and changed since they were first married. In that way the film has a lot to say about compromise, sharing and even personal growth. All of this is delivered with amazing and inventive visuals. Check out the movie here.
I'm told the other films are available on demand for a minimal cost though I haven't looked into that yet. Additionally, the documentary shorts and live action shorts will be screening at the Lyric up through the Oscars, so if you have time before Sunday's ceremony you should check it out.
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